Monthly E-Newsletter

Personnel

The process of appraisal helps to identify staff development and training needs now and for the future. It clarifies what the organisation expects of people and how they can contribute to meeting its objectives. By systematically looking back and into the future, barriers to effective performance can be addressed. This will help staff become better at doing the jobs that need doing. This in turn should mean that individuals can succeed and develop, managers can monitor progress and tackle problems, and the organisation can meet its stated objectives.

We can help you develop appropriate appraisal policies and documents tailored to the needs of your individual organisation.

Coaching is a process where someone with technical expertise, monitors performance and offers specific feedback to help the individual achieve agreed improvement goals. It is usually short term and is focused on developing specific workplace skills. Mentoring on the other hand is a longer term relationship between the individual and someone they regard as having wisdom and credibility. The mentor may come from a different professional discipline and provides a sounding board or critical friend to help broader personal development over a longer timescale in a less formal relationship.

We can help you identify coaching and mentoring needs and the people most appropriate to carry out these roles. We are also able to train these people for their new roles as well as developing Personal Development Plans for all staff. Depending on your specific needs we can also provide a direct coaching or mentoring role ourselves.

Your employees are probably the best barometer of how well things are working within your organisation so asking their opinions can be both insightful and useful. Employee attitude surveys can give you a general mood of the organisation or be used to test specific things such as how well the employees will/have coped with change or how successful management tools have been in motivating staff etc. We can help develop the surveys to get the exact information you want by asking the appropriate questions. We produce a report and can give guidance of activities to improve situations etc.

In situations of rapid change only those organisations that are flexible, adaptive and productive will excel. For this to happen, organizations need to find out and tap into people's commitment and capacity to learn. While all people have the capacity to learn, the structures in which they have to function are often not open to reflection and engagement.

Using the 5 elements of Peter Senge's Learning Organisation model (Team Learning, Shared Visions, Mental Models, Personal Mastery and Systems Thinking), we can help you develop an environment which encourages and welcomes ideas. We can also help develop systems and skills which will enable the organisation increase its capacity to cope with change and learn from mistakes and experience.

We can help your management team achieve transformational change right across the organisation. This in turn can lead to significant performance improvements. As a direct result of this training one Local Authority Benefits Division experienced transformational change and performance improvements leading to them becoming finalists in the IRRV Excellence Awards.

Increasingly people have to deal with multi-task rather than single task activities. Often these involve different departments or organisations, different timescales and outcomes and lots of individual tasks which need to be co-ordinated. We can help you develop the skills to do this yourself or we can develop management systems for each specific project which will make them run smoothly and produce a complete audit trail for managers or external bodies.

Never mind the sports field - Mental Toughness is a key aspect of performance in the workplace. Employees increasingly have to work to demanding targets, handle several things at the same time, respond to sudden changes and new demands and achieve goals despite set-backs or interruptions. Put simply Mental Toughness is the ability to cope with stressors effectively.

The MTQ 48 is a simple questionnaire which measures individuals' abilities in 4 key areas, Control, Challenge, Commitment and Confidence.

The results can enable a person or an organisation understand why some people succeed and others struggle when the pressure is on, develop strategies and tactics to help people perform under pressure and recruit more effectively.

Pet&r can offer assessment and then support this with development workshops or coaching to help groups or individuals to understand and develop their own mental toughness. The result of this is a better bottom line performance, improved morale and better working environment, and a greater ability to recruit people who can make it and reduced risk of stress related absence.

It can be difficult to balance the need to set and maintain standards of behaviour required by the organisation with the individual rights of employees. We can advise on difficult situations such as absence, grievances, discipline and poor performance, as well as broader principles such as rights and responsibilities, dignity at work, harassment and bullying.

We can develop or check policies to make sure they a compliant with current legislation and train staff in the implementation of those policies. In addition we can help conduct discipline investigations and hearings. We can also tribunal-proof the organisation and offer advice and guidance if there is a tribunal to prepare for. We can help managers resolve performance and attendance problems, understand and apply relevant corporate policies and follow best practice in ensuring an inclusive and supportive workplace for all employees.

We design and develop HR policies and procedures that are tailored to suit the organisation. All are compliant with current legislation, but we will go further and provide "future proofing" at the client's request. When we supply a policy, it comes complete with training materials, sample documentation, and implementation guidance.

These days there is no such thing as a job for life. People are moving jobs far more frequently either by choice or necessity. We can help you plan for future redundancy by looking at skills and aptitude for new work as well as help you cope with the changes which come with redundancy. We can also help you assess your skills and develop them to help with career progression or change.

Although everyone accepts that training is important, there is no need for training for trainings sake. People respond best to training which is appropriate to them and will improve their skills and career prospects in other words it is useful. We can help you assess what skills your employees already posses and which they need training in to improve their performance and therefore that of the organisation. This means that you can target your training making it appropriate and cost effective.

If you dont plan ahead and constantly review those plans to check they are appropriate, then you are likely to have problems in the future. These types of sessions are often best done away from the place of work to avoid distractions and focus the mind. We can arrange away days or even residential events and facilitate them so you get the maximum out of the session. We will write up all notes and present you with a report which can inform your organisations strategic thinking.